APEX Launch Event: About the Guest Speaker

Dr. John Marshall serves as the Chief Equity Officer of Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a product of Jefferson County schools and returned to work there as an English teacher after college. He was a coach and later assistant principal before being named Chief Equity Officer of Diversity, Equity, and Poverty for the district.

Within his role, Dr. Marshall has made strides for equity improvement in Jefferson’s public schools, where 60% of students are low-income, and more than half of students are Black and Hispanic. In 2013, he helped create the district’s “annual equity scorecard,” which focuses on the four areas of equity issues that the district works to resolve: discipline, college and career readiness, school climate and culture, and literacy. In his current role he oversees compliance and investigations, site-base decision making, student due process, equity and inclusion, student engagement and community outreach, restorative practices, out-of-school-time data, and the volunteer talent center.

Dr. Marshall recently impacted the development of a new code of conduct in Jefferson County after conducting research that found that both low income students and students of color were disproportionately suspended from school. Dr. Marshall is now traveling across the nation to share best practices from his experiences at JCPS to ensure all school systems can provide a more equitable education for their students regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or zip code.

Dr. Marshall is community-centered and future-focused. An elephant sits in the center of his conference table because he believes that improving the educational system first starts with addressing the elephant in the room.